Cloud Platform Release Announcements for February 22, 2017

This is a blog post of a new ongoing series of consolidated updates from the Cloud Platform team.

In today’s mobile first, cloud first world, Microsoft provides the technologies and tools to enable enterprises to embrace a cloud culture. Our differentiated innovations, comprehensive mobile solutions and developer tools help all of our customers realize the true potential of the cloud first era.

You expect cloud-speed innovation from us, and we’re delivering across the breadth of our Cloud Platform product portfolio. Below is a consolidated list of our latest releases to help you stay current, with links to additional details if you’d like more information. In this update:

Azure Container Service | Kubernetes on ACS GA + ACS Upgrades

Azure Command-Line Interface (Azure CLI) 2.0 Preview | GA

Azure Network Watcher | Public Preview

Operations Management Suite | Network Performance Monitor GA

Storage Service Encryption | Support for Azure Files Public Preview

Azure Search | Azure Search – GA

DocumentDB | ODBC – GA

Power BI Desktop | GA

Power BI service | GA

SQL Server v.Next (Windows, Linux, and Docker) | CTP 1.3

Azure CDN | Custom Domain HTTPS – Public Preview

Azure Functions | Azure Functions Proxies Public Preview

South Korea – Cloud Infrastructure | GA

Azure Container Service | Kubernetes on ACS GA + ACS Upgrades

Kubernetes generally available on Azure Container Service

Kubernetes now generally available (GA) – Kubernetes support in ACS (preview) was announced in November 2017. Since then, we have received a lot of valuable feedback from customers. This has enabled us to rollout Kubernetes support in ACS from preview to GA in a short amount of time.

DC/OS 1.8.8 update – We updated ACS to support DC/OS 1.8.4 in November 2016. Starting today, we will have the DC/OS 1.8.8 update available on ACS.

Azure Command-Line Interface (Azure CLI) 2.0 Preview | GA

Today, we’re announcing the general availability of the VM, storage and network commands in Azure CLI 2.0, a CLI for Azure Resource Manager projects that integrates well with other open source tools you use in your environment, like Bash. This announcement means that customers can now use these commands in production, with full support by Microsoft both through our Azure support channels and GitHub Issues. This also means that we don’t expect breaking changes for these commands in new releases of Azure CLI 2.0.

Azure Network Watcher | Public Preview

Azure Network Watcher in public preview

Azure Network Watcher enables you to monitor and diagnose conditions at a network scenario level using the network diagnostic and visualization tools provided by the service. You can also remotely capture network traffic on a virtual machine using packet capture; gain insight into your network traffic using flow logs; and diagnose VPN connectivity issues. Plus, it integrates with existing Azure services. Learn more about Network Watcher capabilities on the Azure Blog.

Operations Management Suite | Network Performance Monitor GA

Get visibility into network latency, performance and availability within Azure and beyond

As you manage your cloud applications, it is important to get visibility into the virtual network connections to help troubleshoot performance. Ideally, you have a unified experience that gives you network visibility in Azure and on-premises. Network Performance Monitor, now generally available, gives you near real-time visibility into network performance, network latency and network availability spanning hybrid environments. You can drill down into the node links and visualize the hop-by-hop topology of routes using an interactive network topology dashboard. Once an issue is identified, you can address the issue and create alerts. This solution is available as part of OMS Insight & Analytics. Try today by activating your free account.

Storage Service Encryption | Support for Azure Files Public Preview

Public Preview of Storage Service Encryption for File Storage

We recently announced the public preview of Storage Service Encryption (SSE) for Azure File Storage. When you enable Storage Service Encryption for Azure File Storage, your data is automatically encrypted for you. This enables IT organizations who want to lift and shift their on premises file shares to the cloud using Azure Files to protect their data at rest using industry standard 256-bit AES encryption. Learn more by visiting Preview of Storage Service Encryption for File Storage.

Azure Search | Azure Search – GA

Azure Search Now Available in UK Region

We are happy to announce the expanded availability of Azure Search in the UK South Region, making Azure Search available in all public geographies. Azure Search is currently available in the following regions: Australia East, Brazil South, Canada Central, Central India, East Asia, East US, Japan West, North Central US, North Europe, South Central US, South East Asia, West Central US, West Europe and West US. Learn more about Azure Search.

DocumentDB | ODBC – GA

DocumentDB: ODBC Driver now available

The DocumentDB ODBC Driver is now available, enabling you to renormalize data in DocumentDB so you can analyze the data and create reports using BI and Analytics solutions like Power BI and Tableau.

Power BI Desktop | GA

New and most frequently requested Power BI Desktop features are now available to business analysts.

Solution Templates and Partner Showcase quick access: We’ve added quick access on the ribbon to two great resources: Solution Templates and the Partner Showcase. Solution templates let you use a wizard to very quickly and easily create a working end-to-end enterprise-ready Power BI solution. The Partner Showcase lets you browse our certified partners, see their work, and reach out if you are interested in working with them. If you’re looking for resources to work with when creating your Power BI solutions, be sure to check these out!

Download the latest Power BI Desktop to experience the new features immediately. For more information on these new features and others, visit the Power BI blog.

Power BI service | GA

More new and most frequently requested Power BI features are now available to end users and business analysts in the month of February.

Dashboard SaaS Embed: Powerbi.com dashboards can now be embedded in custom apps. Sign in to powerbi.microsoft.com to experience the new features immediately. For more information on these new features and others, visit the Power BI blog.

SQL Server v.Next (Windows, Linux, and Docker) | CTP 1.3

Now available: Community Technology Preview 1.3

SQL Server vNext Community Technology Preview (CTP) 1.3 is now available on both Windows and Linux. Several feature enhancements were added to the preview including High Availability and Disaster Recovery (HADR) for Linux and enabling customers to run Availability Groups without Windows Failover Clusters. Customers can also create a Distributed Availability Group including replicas on both Windows and Linux to help with platform migration with minimal downtime. Preview in development and test environments today.

Azure CDN | Custom Domain HTTPS – Public Preview

We are excited to announce custom domain HTTPS support for Azure CDN from Verizon to enhance the security of data in transit. Use of HTTPS protocol ensures data exchanged with a website is encrypted while in transit. Azure CDN already supports HTTPS for Azure provided domains (e.g. https://contoso.azureedge.net) and it is enabled by default. Now, with custom domain HTTPS, you can enable secure delivery for custom domains (e.g. https://www.contoso.com) too.

South Korea – Cloud Infrastructure | GA

Companies in Korea and India choose Microsoft Azure to fuel their digital transformation

Driven by strong customer demand for cloud computing, we continue to invest to deliver an intelligent, global and trusted cloud for our customers. In India, Flipkart – the country’s leading marketplace – and Tata Motors, as well as Korean companies LG Electronics, Asan Medical Center and Samsung Electronics, are all leveraging the scalability, availability and resiliency of the Microsoft cloud to enable their digital transformation.

We are pleased to share that Azure is generally available from two new cloud regions in Korea, part of 38 Azure regions announced across the globe – more than any major cloud provider. With 13 of those regions in Asia, customers across the region can take advantage of the Azure cloud platform’s global footprint, reliability and advanced intelligent services. They can also benefit from local datacenters to achieve higher performance and support their requirements for data location and replication.

In September of 2015, we opened datacenter regions in India, providing the massive computing power of the Microsoft cloud to fuel growth and innovation. Earlier this week, Satya announced that Flipkart has adopted Azure as its exclusive public cloud platform to enable its continued growth and expansion, and to scale quickly and to stay resilient, especially during peak seasons. The move marks a first step in a broad collaboration between the two companies to provide 100 million Flipkart customers with the best online shopping experience. Flipkart will use Azure AI and analytics capabilities to optimize merchandising, advertising, marketing and customer service. This partnership comes on the heels of our cloud collaboration with Tata Motors – India’s leading auto manufacturer – to provide connected driving experiences with Azure.